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Summary Danish researchers say cheese may not be so bad as butter.
Nutritionists have long recommended avoiding all animal fats to trim cholesterol, but Danish researchers say cheese may not be so bad, and probably shouldnt be placed in the same category as butter.According to their study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who ate daily servings of cheese for six-week intervals had lower LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol, than when they ate a comparable amount of butter. The cheese eaters also did not have higher LDL during the experiment than when they ate a normal diet.Cheese lowers LDL cholesterol when compared with butter intake of equal fat content and does not increase LDL cholesterol compared with a habitual diet, wrote Julie Hjerpsted and her colleagues, from the University of Copenhagen. The group surveyed about 50 people. Each person was put on a controlled diet and added a measured amount of cheese or butter daily.Throughout, each participant was compared against his or herself, to follow changes in the body caused by the foods. Researchers gave each person cheese or butter, both made from cows milk, equal to 13 percent of their daily energy consumption from fat.
